Issue No. 189 I May 2017

                                                                                                                  

EDITORIAL

With the onset of summer in right earnest, there will be a void in the cutural calendar for the next few months. Not that it should concern most, as many plan a vacation either to their home town or have plans to go on holidays within or outside the country. For those who feel holidays are dear, hibernate at home as the torrid heat outside could give you a heat stroke which you should much rather avoid. The only thing about summer that I like is the arrival of the king of fruits, the mango. Depending on the month, the juiciest of mango varieties make their presence with Alphonso, safeda, dassheri, chousa, langda and the like. For variety, it is the season for watermelons, musk melons, cherries, plums, apricots and litchees as well. So, go on a fruitarian diet.

After a recent surprise inspection of the meter rooms in the colony, BSES wanted to impose a hefty penalty for sundry material stored there. After giving assurance that the meter rooms will be cleared of all things forthwith and not allowed as a storage space, they let  off the Society scot-free. Residents are advised not to store anything in the meter rooms lest it become a fire hazard and our building goes up in flames like a tinder box. This matter gains further credence because on 16th May, 2017 H-006 had a short circuit and a major fire was averted by timely action of the residents. Braveheart Chandrakantha Purohit of F001 battled intense heat and leaping flames to venture into the flat and smash the window with a projectile so that others could throw sand and water inside to contain the flames. Kudos to her, Anand Sundaresan and several others  Like in most tragic incidents there is  always a silver lining in the dark clouds The residents were at home so the flat could be accessed from outside to control the situation. Had this happened when the residents were not at home the whole of H Block could have gone up in flames.Due to a plethora of wires and cutouts, the meter room is much more vulnerable to short-circuits.

Whilst on the subject I would like to give an advisory to all residents not to remove or change plugs from the socket while the switch is on. I find that that this is a common practice especially these days when people are plugging in devices like mobile phones and laptops for charging. Little do they realise that when they pull out a plug or insert another plug when the switch is on, for a momentary period of time an air gap is created which leads to spark generation which over time erodes the contacts and creates a permanent gap. This permanent gap between plug and socket will then be a source of permanent sparking which may not be visible to you. Over time the plug heats up and when it exceeds the threshold level can burn and could be a cause of fire. If the plug is hidden behind a cupboard or a curtain it could lead to a major fire and your flat could get gutted. A little caution can save all the bother.

Mr. R. C. Natarajan of C-106 who is an consultant to BSES has very kindly put out an advisory of the do's and don't concerning the use of electrical gadgets in the portal and notice boards. Please take cognizance of the same to avert any mishaps.

Yamuna Apartments was featured prominently in an issue of the Hindu listing it among the 10 most iconic modern buildings in Delhi. This feature was carried by the BBC some decades ago as well. We should be proud of this heritage and retain the facade in its pristine condition. Instead several residents have made extensions to their balconies and installed monstrous grills which project beyond the plinth area.  Split AC's are installed with metres of fat cable running on the facade instead of taking the cable within the flat by scooping out the plaster, burying the cable in the wall and masking it with POP. This way neither the facade nor the inside of the house will be an eyesore. Whenever residents are told not to do any of the aforementioned things they retort by saying that they are only following what others are doing. If people keep pointing at others without seeing the fault in their own actions we will end up looking like the ramshackle tenements of DDA. Lets wake up and put a stop to this. There should be zero tolerance for any acts of transgression.

As usual Yamuna students have done exceedingly well in the XIIth Class Board Exams. We are very proud of their achievement.Their results are reproduced below. As expected a girl has outshone the boys. I wonder why they are called the weaker sex. In all aspects except physical strength they are the stronger sex. Doesn't matter, we will lick our wounds and move on. Maybe men are more happy go lucky whereas women always want to prove a point.

S.NO	NAME	ADDRESS	% MARKS	STREAM
1	RIYA RAMABADHRAN	E-201	95.25	SCIENCE
2	YOHAAN ABRAHAM	A-008	91	SCIENCE/HUMANITIES MIX
3	MURLI NARAYAN	H-006	86	SCIENCE

The H Block basement has now been painted and new lights have been installed to improve the illumination. Unclaimed motorcycles/scooters have also been removed and being handed over to the police. A CCTV camera has been installed strategically to ward off any petrol thefts and acts of vandalism. In view of the foregoing, residents who park their two wheelers on the surface are advised to move them to the basement. Parking of two wheelers on the surface hampers free movement and the staff also do not clean the area where they are parked.

SNIPPETS

It was very thoughtful of Mr. Debabrata Das of B-304 to donate two Milton cold water dispensing jugs of 10 litres capacity each to A Block and H Block guard rooms. We thank him for this very kind gesture.

******************

Yamunaites are making a name for themselves far and away. Mr. and Mrs. Nagarajan's (A-202) daughter, Shruthi has won the grand first prize at the National  music competition in Singapore. I have not heard her sing. The next time they visit Yamuna we should get her to sing for us, Great going, Shruthi.

*******************

Mr. Kislaya Singh has moved into B-306 from Kalkaji. He works as Sr. Manager, Buisness Development (North India) with Premier Shield Pvt Ltd, a company operating in the Security Services domain. His other interests are socialising and watching movies. His wife Puja is a housewife and freelances as an apparel designer. She may soon start a studio for readymade garments. 

*******************

Mr. Rajesh Sharma has moved into A-004 from GK 2 with his wife Sangeeta. Both Rajesh and Sangeeta are engineers. Rajesh is a hydraulic consultant. He represented Gulbarga University cricket team. Sangeeta works in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Their daughter Nidhi works in Canada. 

*********************

Ms. Suchitra Balasubrahmanyan has moved into H-303 after buying it from the previous owner. Suchitra has passed out of NID Ahmedabad and then gone on to do an MA in Social Design and is teaching at the School of Design, Ambedkar University. She is also an amateur historian and has authored two books on Gujarat –Social History of Gujarat and Social History of Ahmedabad. She has esoteric tastes. She likes Western Classical music, particularly opera, reads detective fiction and has a passion for collecting matchboxes! Her daughter Ayesha after doing BA in history from St. Stephens College, did an MA in Ethnomusicology from King's College, London. After a brief stint in a musical archive she is heading off to University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for a Ph.D. in – you guessed it – music. Suchitra's son Aniruddh is pursuing a course in Liberal Arts from Asim Premji University in Bangalore. He is a marathon runner and is interested in wildlife conservation. He is also doing an internship with an organisation in Himachal Pradesh which is working on the conservation of the snow leopard. Quite an unconventional family.

We welcome the diversity of all the newcomers to the  Yamuna family and would like to see them integrate seamlessly into the social fabric of Yamuna.

*****************

Pallavi, Mr. and Mrs. Govil's daughter, has been blessed with a son on 19th May, 2017. Pallavi will have her hands full with a lot of nappy changing and sleepless nights. Maybe big sister Anya can play mother to her sibling and take a load off her mother. We wish Pallavi and Abhay happy baby sitting.

****************

Mr. N. L. Ganapathi has moved his office from H-206 to Safdarjung Development Area. May his practice flourish in the new place, although we will miss his legal counsels at close quarters. 

    

THRIFT TIPS

This is to inform you that medicines are prescribed (by doctors) by brand name & not by the generics (Ingredients). Hence we end up paying more money for the same medicine.
Follow these few steps to know more and start saving on your medical bills.

1. Simply download "1 MG - Health App for India" now it is 6mb software on your Android device. Search the medicine name.

2. Type the medicine name which you are using (e. g. Lyrica 75mg (Pfizer company)

3. It will show you medicine company, prices and ingredients. Click on substitute.

4. Don't be surprised to see that same drug is available at very low cost also. And that too by other reputed manufacturer. e. g. Lyrica by Pfizer is for Rs. 768.56 for 14 tab (54.89 per tab). Whereas same drug by Cipla (Prebaxe) is available ONLY @ Rs. 59.00 for 10 tab (5.9 per tab).